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It's the end of the road for drama "Southland," which has been canceled before the launch of its sophomore season.

Production on the John Wells-produced cop series is being shut down after six episodes.

"Southland," from Warner Bros. TV, was originally slated to debut in its new Friday 9 p.m. time slot during premiere week, but in August, NBC opted to push the start to Oct. 23 and air "Dateline NBC" in the meantime.

"Dateline NBC" will now continue to run in the Friday 9 p.m. hour.

It is not clear when the six produced new episodes of "Southland" will air.

"Southland," created by Ann Biderman, got off to a good start when it premiered in midseason in the Thursday 10 p.m. time period, succeeding NBC's long-running medical drama, "ER," also exec produced by Wells.

Additionally, "Southland" garnered solid reviews, but through its initial run last spring, the series showed ratings erosion.

Then came the Jay Leno factor, with NBC forced to shift its 10 p.m. dramas to 9 p.m. to make room for "The Jay Leno Show."

While "Southland" has enjoyed strong support among NBC brass, after screening the finished episodes from the upcoming second season, the show's content was deemed too dark and gritty for broadcast TV, especially for 9 p.m.

There is a possibility for the series to be shopped to cable networks.

The cancellation of "Southland" ends (for now) a long relationship between NBC and Wells, who has been behind some of NBC's biggest series, including "ER" and "The West Wing," for the past 15 years.

It hasn't been a good start for NBC's scripted dramas this fall, with rookies "Trauma" and "Mercy" struggling along with most of the returning veterans, including "Heroes" and "Law & Order: SVU," which is still settling into its new Wednesday 9 p.m. slot.

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NBC has axed Southland... I hear Trauma is next because of its ridiculouly excessive $3 million pricetag an episode. (When I screened the show, I was rooting for the helicopter to kill off every character...) My NBC insiders are letting Angela Bromstad off the hook, saying "she picked the best of shit" from Ben Silverman's failed development. "This is the last gift that keeps on giving from Ben Silverman." The insiders are even going so far as to give up on the rest of the primetime schedule for their network. "There's nothing watchable the rest of the year." Even midseason and spring of 2010? "Nothing watchable the rest of the season," I'm told. "Maybe Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref will work, but he's not even in it. This is not a fun place to be right now. And we committed to Jay Leno on the air for 2 years because he was worried we'd have an itchy trigger finger. It's an embarrassment for all of us. Maybe he'll get fed up -- he's not right now -- and then we can re-negotiate." This is beyond sad. It's the destruction of a brand.

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